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General discussion11 Essential Mods for The Witcher 3 – Guest Feature with Nexus Mods(50 posts)(50 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted October 18, 2017
An essential but not exhaustive list of awesome downloads, to be precise.

The Witcher series is now ten years old. From its humble beginnings to the AAA titan of today, the series has fostered a passionate and loving community dedicated to doing even more with the greatness.

As part of our anniversary celebration, the team at Nexus Mods was kind enough to talk about some of their favorite mods for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. If you're in the mood for something more classic, make sure to also see what's out there for The Witcher and The Witcher 2 – you'll find more than enough to warrant a whole another playthrough.

True to the spirit of PC gaming, just about every mod below is designed to help you personalize your experience and really make it yours. So read on!



Nexus Mods' Essential Mods for The Witcher 3
By Jim Fitzpatrick (aka TerrorFox1234)

For this feature I tried to stay away from mods that change the overall balancing of the game. Instead, the focus will be on "quality of life" mods and useful utility mods. I must admit, this was a difficult list to put together. I had to cut a lot of really great mods! As always, mods are subjective and this not a definitive list. Let us know what you would add!

Script Merger
Ok, so this first one isn't a mod. This utility allows you to resolve conflicts between mods that modify the same game file. No need to choose between one mod or the other (in most cases). If you plan on using a lot of mods, you will want to grab this.

Absolute Camera
This mod gives you complete control of your camera settings in every possible situation. Configure your camera settings for everything from meditation to sailing with an in-game menu.

HUD Positioning and Scaling
Just as the title implies, this mod lets you completely revamp your HUD to your liking. Move, resize, and hide/unhide any element using in-game controls.

All Quest Objectives On Map
This mod comes in 3 flavors; Lite, Standard, and Full. Decide which version to use to gain a better view of your quest locations. I would recommend the Standard version for a good middle ground between features and compatibility with other mods.

Sort Everything
The ultimate inventory management mod. Sort alphabetically, by level, or by location. Pin recipes to the top. It applies to the menus for alchemy, crafting, glossary, bestiary, inventory, and quest journal.

Manual Trophy Equip
This mod prevents newly acquired trophies from auto-equipping. Simple as that.

Better Torches
This mod lets you keep your torch equipped while climbing, casting, blocking, and on horseback. It's especially handy when encountering baddies at night or in dark interiors.

Auto Apply Oils
When entering combat, this mod will scan your foes and automatically apply the oil best suited to the situation. It's a small QoL tweak that lets you spend less time in menus and more time focusing on combat.

AutoLoot Configurable All-In-One
Do you always loot specific items from dropped baddies? This mod takes the work out of the equation. It is highly configurable (as the title implies) with a wealth of features for deciding the how, when, and where of auto-looting.

Roach Never Stops
This simple mod prevents Roach from getting stuck on small rocks, bridges, water, and other obstacles. Get where you're going faster!

Unofficial 1.30 - 1.31 Mod Update Project
This last one is also not a mod, per se. Rather, it is a compendium of patches to update out-of-date mods (including a couple of the mods listed here). You will definitely want to track this project and take a look over the list to ensure that all of your mods are up-to-date.
Post edited October 18, 2017 by maladr0Id
Posted October 21, 2017
Essential for some, non essential for others.

It's up to individuals to see if they need or not these modes, I use a few more mods cause I want to, but also some from this list intersect with my list.

Cheers.
Posted October 21, 2017
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fr33kSh0w2012: NEXUS MODS are HORRIBLE, JUST HORRIBLE Biggest bunch of Dirtbags around
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GR00T: Did they steal your pick-up truck or something?

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V4V: I agree to Coot. Preparation isn't only a central piece of the original game, it's also one of the books that set both apart from others. You can't just run into the woods/cave/old hut blindly, you have to be aware of possible dangers and maybe research them beforehand.

I don't want to forbid anyone from using it, I just think it has no place in an essential mods collection, because it takes away an essential part of the Witcher experience.
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GR00T: I disagree - not with your statement about what mods deserve to be on the top list (these lists are totally subjective anyway) - but with your assertion about it taking away from the Witcher experience. Again, the mod doesn't make the oil for you: it has to be in your inventory. All it does is skip the step where you go into your inventory and apply the oil. I fail to see how this takes away an 'essential' part of the experience. If you want to fight the monster effectively, you still need to make sure you know what you're fight and you've gathered the materials and created the oil - the mod doesn't change that.
No they kicked ME out treated ALIENSLOF with UTTER DISRESPECT AND WERE EVEN MAKING FUN OF HER! you know the AUTHOR OF THE NUDE/SEX MODS FOR MORROWIND AND OBLIVION
Post edited October 21, 2017 by fr33kSh0w2012
Posted October 21, 2017
cool
Posted October 21, 2017
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GR00T: I disagree - not with your statement about what mods deserve to be on the top list (these lists are totally subjective anyway) - but with your assertion about it taking away from the Witcher experience. Again, the mod doesn't make the oil for you: it has to be in your inventory. All it does is skip the step where you go into your inventory and apply the oil. I fail to see how this takes away an 'essential' part of the experience. If you want to fight the monster effectively, you still need to make sure you know what you're fight and you've gathered the materials and created the oil - the mod doesn't change that.
Well, I'd also agree with Coot/V4V - and as mentioned earlier, I still even prefer the Witcher 1 alchemy. In that game, your reasoning might make more sense to me, since oils (and potions) are one-use only, you actually have to acquire the ingredients and remember to craft them all the time (while meditating, at a fireplace).
While it's true you have to craft the oils in Witcher 3, too, you have to do this exactly once, and it is a fairly easy process, you have to be especially negligent to "forget" crafting any specific kind of oil. As I understand it, the oil only gives you a boost to damage anyway - so if the application is that annoying to a player s/he might just not use oil, the way it looks to me this mod just grants you a permanent sword upgrade to make the game just a tad easier.
For all my nagging, I don't think there's anything wrong with happily using that mod (and more choices are always better), but I do think it undermines an interesting game mechanic.
Posted October 21, 2017
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JZStudios: I'd say better graphics and framerate then, but that also depends on your PC. Again, I really liked the updated textures of the HD reworked mod to replace some of the surprisingly low res defaults.
https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/1021/?
Otherwise yeah, it's either things that are small quality of life mods, silly mods, or mods that really change the gameplay. Some guys are talking about the Auto apply oils (of which I never messed with oils because the time limit is ridiculously short on them) and I'd say that's a good mod. Hard for me to argue it when it prevents the clunky search through menu system. In the Witcher 1 and 2 the oils had a much longer lifespan and you couldn't apply it mid combat, Witcher 3 has short life span and you can apply it whenever.
Haha, thanks for the reply, and I'm sorry, I just made a long post about why I don't like auto-application of oils ;) They do not have time-limit, though, but there's a certain number of hits you can throw until it "wears off", but I guess you knew that? (And yet again, yeah, I prefer how TW1/2 handled this. I remember in the beginning of the first game, when I had just a steel sword for the longest time, oils were pretty much a necessity - I was actually quite fond of that, it "teaches you" to use all resources available to you and prepare yourself.)
Posted October 24, 2017
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fr33kSh0w2012: No they kicked ME out treated ALIENSLOF with UTTER DISRESPECT AND WERE EVEN MAKING FUN OF HER! you know the AUTHOR OF THE NUDE/SEX MODS FOR MORROWIND AND OBLIVION
You more than likely did something stupid, or was abusive, and that got you banned.

I'm sure some users were treating AlienSlof with disrespect, and making fun of her, but the users are not the site.
Like it, or not, as long as they aren't abusive, they have a right to voice that opinion, but not on the authors page these days.
The Nexus has tightened the rules up, which have swung way to far in the mod authors favor, in my opinion, since AlienSlof originally moved her mods to Hall of Torque. Mod authors are the ones handing out bans, and they need give no justificatiion for the ban.

I also noticed AlienSlof is still a member of Nexus, and has started reposting her mods on the site, since Hall of Torque announced it was shutting down it's mod hosting services. Doesn't look like she shares your Users=site attitude
AlienSlof's Files page on NexusMods - Old Layout
AlienSlof's Files page on NexusMods - New Layout

I have no love for certain moderators that do seem to wield the ban hammer to quick in my opinion.
Specifically "The Vampire Dante".
As a frequenter of sites like Lover's Lab, I've often seen the type of general hate filled posts much worse than yours, and in every case I've checked, they were rightly banned.

The users complaining about what looked like dubious bans, weren't just spouting random hate, but providing links to the incidents, as evidence. They were only a few, and the general haters were many.

Nothing wrong with Nexus as a mod hosting site, it's far from perfect, but it's much better than any other multi game site.
At least GOG owners can use it, unlike the trash that is Steam Workshop.

In the end though, it's the mod authors choice, and if that choice is Nexus, and you want to use the mod, you get it frm there.
You don't have to do anything except download the mod, if you don't like the sites community.
Post edited October 24, 2017 by UhuruNUru
Posted October 24, 2017
low rated
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fr33kSh0w2012: No they kicked ME out treated ALIENSLOF with UTTER DISRESPECT AND WERE EVEN MAKING FUN OF HER! you know the AUTHOR OF THE NUDE/SEX MODS FOR MORROWIND AND OBLIVION
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UhuruNUru: You more than likely did something stupid, or was abusive, and that got you banned.

I'm sure some users were treating AlienSlof with disrespect, and making fun of her, but the users are not the site.
Like it, or not, as long as they aren't abusive, they have a right to voice that opinion, but not on the authors page these days.
The Nexus has tightened the rules up, which have swung way to far in the mod authors favor, in my opinion, since AlienSlof originally moved her mods to Hall of Torque. Mod authors are the ones handing out bans, and they need give no justificatiion for the ban.

I also noticed AlienSlof is still a member of Nexus, and has started reposting her mods on the site, since Hall of Torque announced it was shutting down it's mod hosting services. Doesn't look like she shares your Users=site attitude
AlienSlof's Files page on NexusMods - Old Layout
AlienSlof's Files page on NexusMods - New Layout

I have no love for certain moderators that do seem to wield the ban hammer to quick in my opinion.
Specifically "The Vampire Dante".
As a frequenter of sites like Lover's Lab, I've often seen the type of general hate filled posts much worse than yours, and in every case I've checked, they were rightly banned.

The users complaining about what looked like dubious bans, weren't just spouting random hate, but providing links to the incidents, as evidence. They were only a few, and the general haters were many.

Nothing wrong with Nexus as a mod hosting site, it's far from perfect, but it's much better than any other multi game site.
At least GOG owners can use it, unlike the trash that is Steam Workshop.

In the end though, it's the mod authors choice, and if that choice is Nexus, and you want to use the mod, you get it frm there.
You don't have to do anything except download the mod, if you don't like the sites community.
Yeah thing Is it was DARKONE that banned me WITH A /LOL in chat and PERMABANNED me from chat AND THE FORUMS SITE so now I CAN'T download mods AT ALL so you Don't know what the hell your on about son!

AND NEVER EVER GAVE A REASON NO three strikes or anything just a /LOL so yeah I HATE the nexus look up user fr33kSh0w2012 and why don't you ask DARKONE FOR ME WHY DID HE BAN ME! or are you too scared of him!
Posted November 11, 2017
I don't mind the game the way it is. Vanilla is fine. Mods are great for others but everything about this game is fantastic. I can get over having to pick things up, Oh noes! Or issues with Roach stopping as it never happens during a race which is the only time this is really mandatory. The other things are fine but I do know some people find it hard to press the sort button! LoL!
Posted November 16, 2017
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GR00T: While I understand your point, I tend to disagree. It's not like you get free oils - you actually have to craft and have them in your inventory to have this mod be of any use. All this does is take (IMO) some of the tedium away - you don't have to go into your inventory and apply the oil every time you go into a battle. It lets you skip the open-inventory-search-to-find-the-right-oil-choose-to-apply necessity.

If it's not for you, that's cool, but I can certainly see the appeal. I view this as something like auto-loot or fast travel. YMMV.
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V4V:
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Coot: Everybody has their own tastes but I can't stand that a mod like auto apply oil is at the top of a list of supposed essential mods. That mod in of itself violates the whole idea and spirit of a Witcher game. Going back to the original Witcher its all about preparation and that philosophy is highlighted all throughout the original game. That it is a core aspect of being a working Witcher and it means you have to use the ol' noggin to determine what you need prior to a fight and then apply and equip what you need accordingly. I don't mean to complain but that "essential mods" list bugs me something awful lol.
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V4V: I agree to Coot. Preparation isn't only a central piece of the original game, it's also one of the books that set both apart from others. You can't just run into the woods/cave/old hut blindly, you have to be aware of possible dangers and maybe research them beforehand.

I don't want to forbid anyone from using it, I just think it has no place in an essential mods collection, because it takes away an essential part of the Witcher experience.
Completely agreed. It wrecks the immersion of being a Witcher. Preparing is a huge part of the game and of the art of the profession. If you're having trouble with a monster or you expect to, you're meant to actually read a sentence or two and try to learn something about said creature. A mod that auto-prepares you for every battle is just another lame "easy mode" addition that fails to grasp the point of the game's core systems. Just...watch a video on youtube if you care that little about the game you're playing/actually playing a game is so "tedious" to you. You'll save 60$ bucks.

To be fair, though, the rest of the mods in the list are also pretty pointless to me. Other than Mortal Guards*, I use a small number of QoL mods (colored map markers, for example) but I don't feel the need to go beyond that. It's not like an Elder Scrolls game that ships 30% finished and needs to be completely rebuilt by the community. I don't want a bunch of awful texture mods (that "HD" mod is hideous) and instant-win god mode stuff. The Witcher 3 is far better to me without all the bogus redesigns and "overhauls" by armchair developers who think they know games better than the people who do it for a living. That may be true when Bethesda is behind the wheel, but not for CD Projekt.

* Beatable Guards is the foremost in guard-balancing and probably the most stable - but they still won't die. Another mod, titled "guards down-leveled and mortal" scales and also lets you kill guards. You can also use "Kill "em All' in combination with Beatable guards, I've heard, to do something similar. But however you accomplish it, I think this is the only "essential" mod out there. Because invincible guards that are always stronger than Geralt don't just break the lore, they destroy it. Just about everything else is subjective. But Geralt should AT LEAST be on par with random drunk fat guards who are a dime-a-dozen. That's not subjective, it's rooted in the simple and objective facts laid out by the books. Geralt isn't invincible, but neither are his foes. And a random guard shouldn't give Geralt the fight of his life, as if he were suddenly clashing with Vilgefortz again. It takes an epic foe to give Geralt a real challenge (i.e. a powerful magic user, another Witcher, someone other than a random idiot with minimal training and a massive beer belly).
Post edited November 16, 2017 by AceRoccola
Posted February 10, 2018
You know, I'm not using anything on this list. I am using about 20 or so mods though from Nexus. I can't remember the exact names of them, but my favourite mods are:

my fave mod: one that turns Roach into a sparkling purple unicorn that glows in the dark

one that that puts all the books and scrolls from all 3 games into the game (because I love reading the story of the series, I'm more of a story mode player then a fighting player, and this mod, fills lootable bookshelves with extra books)

one that put tin foil hats on the chickens; it's histerical and results in me, every time I enter a town, the first thing I do is run around the town looking for the tin foil hat chicken, it adds a hat to one chicken in every town

one that makes the witcher scenses any colour you choose

one that makes the blades of the silver swords gleam like chrome

best mod ever: The daily monster challenge: adds a daily bonus quest to a random notice board, and tells you what monster is the monster of the day, then you have til midnight to find and kill that type of monster

I more prefer cosmetic mods that enchance the look of the game without changing the way the game is played. I'm not into the mods that change the game play - like the auto-oil on blades doesn't interest me, because I like the whole "puzzle feature" of having to remember which oil goes with what monster and the stress of having to try to quickly change oils without getting killed is part of the fun of the game. I can see how more casual players would like it.

I'm not sure I'd like something like autoloot, because I love the scavanger hunt feel of looking for the loot.

The sort everything one interests me. I'm a loot everything type of player and my pockets get full - being able to sort stuff better would come in handy.

Better touches I might try.
Post edited February 10, 2018 by EelKat
Posted October 10, 2018
If you think the list above is excessive you should see the number of mods I downloaded from Nexus for Fallout 3. The number is better represented in disc size. Currently I have 17.5 gigabytes of mods. Archer's Mothership Zeta is a lot of that and many others flesh out Archer's magnificent creation.

I don't see the point in arguing over the purity of a game and what mods violates someone's idea of violating that "purity". Qute frankly monsters routinely jump out of the bushes and you need to dispatch them muy pronto or you are one dead witcher. Nekkers anyone? Auto oil application saves a lot of time. My opinion however. Use whatever mod you want and stop arguing about them. By the way I use 7 out of the 11 modes on the "Essential List".
Posted June 11, 2019
The only ones I agree with are the oil applier and the auto-loot bodies. That being said, the mods you really need are Triss as a companion (who doesn't want to see that doll with you everywhere.) and the random monster encounters. What person wouldn't want to be strolling through a city just to randomly walk upon a vampire killing a dude in an alley? Or you're riding your horse through town and new thing you know you're thrown from your horse because a werewolf just pounced on you. It really adds an amazing element to the game.
Posted June 27, 2019
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Tertius_Gauden: The only ones I agree with are the oil applier and the auto-loot bodies. That being said, the mods you really need are Triss as a companion (who doesn't want to see that doll with you everywhere.) and the random monster encounters. What person wouldn't want to be strolling through a city just to randomly walk upon a vampire killing a dude in an alley? Or you're riding your horse through town and new thing you know you're thrown from your horse because a werewolf just pounced on you. It really adds an amazing element to the game.
Nah, that changes the game in an unintended way that seems a bit lame to me. There are already plenty of monster spawns. As for the auto oils etc, no way. That's just lazy af. A big part of the game is knowing thy enemy and learning which oils to use etc. So nah.
Posted July 03, 2019
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Coot: I'm happy to have more Witcher related articles especially those that might introduce folks to mods they might not know about but I have to say I really, really dislike their list. Not a very good list what so ever in my opinion. I understand that the author had to pick and choose and leave some out but I think a better quality list could have been made that better reflects the wider range of options available especially those that add to the experience and that do not detract.

Everybody has their own tastes but I can't stand that a mod like auto apply oil is at the top of a list of supposed essential mods. That mod in of itself violates the whole idea and spirit of a Witcher game. Going back to the original Witcher its all about preparation and that philosophy is highlighted all throughout the original game. That it is a core aspect of being a working Witcher and it means you have to use the ol' noggin to determine what you need prior to a fight and then apply and equip what you need accordingly. I don't mean to complain but that "essential mods" list bugs me something awful lol.

One of my original must have mods when W3 came out was the manual sheathe/unsheathe mod. I couldn't believe CDProjecktRed made that automatic!!??!! There was a mod that fixed this but then the devs eventually fixed it themselves with an option in-game thankfully.

Witcher Script Merger is essential but here are some that are must have's for me though I'm still always looking and learning what there is. Again I try to use mods that fix or enhance what's already there and that don't violate the game's game play and lore or world in any way.

-Immersive Camera (One of my favorites. Its actually part of a series)

-Alternate Horse Controls (Listed separately within Immersive Camera mod section. Makes horse riding control on a
gamepad almost exactly like Red Dead Redemption!!)

-Immersive Meditation

-Immersive AI (maybe something better now but I'm not sure)

-Immersive Motion

-Block When You Want

-Enhanced Herbalism

-Complete Animations (Now you can actually see Geralt apply sword oil after you manually apply it from your inventory.
Makes you prepare before fighting and be more slow and methodic but you can add it instantly like vanilla while in
combat.)

-ESGO(Combat mod. There's others I haven't tried yet. I love this kind of mod though because it keeps human
enemies and some creatures still a challenge and potential threat. It always bugged me how humans become so easy
to destroy once you level up. The way I see it, even though Geralt is supposedly one of the greatest sword fighters in
the known world, he is not the only one! This world is full of professionally trained fighters, soldiers, mercenaries,
bandits, knights and so on. Geralt is highly skilled and uniquely so but he is not immortal or invulnerable. There are
others out there that know well how to wield a sword in combat!!) I played most of the game on Sword and Story
difficulty and once I started getting into Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine I discovered this mod and I turned the
difficulty up to Broken Bones and for me it now gets tough!!!

-Ice Breath

-Blood Mod (there's a few of them)

-No Stair Rolling

-Real Weather

-Sword FX (Love this mod too!)

-Swordplay (I don't use the full mod but I do use one of the optional files that adds some extra animations)

-Thoughtful Roach

-No Player Light

-Compilation

These two are fun for role playing immersion

-Charming Flute (maybe pushes the boundaries as I don't think Geralt plays an instrument but for me it doesn't violate. In my mind someone like Geralt who lives most of his life on the road, in the wild and between civilization, it stands to reason that he could carry along an instrument to play. If I were out there often in isolation I'd want the means to make some music. One of God's many great gifts. Like an old cow puncher working cattle in the remote places of the West who might keep a mouth harp to sooth and entertain himself, his partners or the cattle themselves or like a sailor on a ship on the ocean in the middle of where no man has ever been or seen who might have a tin whistle or a stringed instrument with him, I think its quite possible too that a Witcher, perhaps even Geralt, could carry an instrument with him for those lonely times.)

-Weed Pipe (Could be tobacco or could be something else. Never know what kind of herbs a Witcher has on him. Great for relaxing and he even pulls out a little stool to sit on which is great to set up in a scenic area or even next to some other patrons at an tavern)
This is the mod list I imagined when I decided to read this article.

Thanks for salvaging what would have been a complete waste of my time.
Posted July 03, 2019
low rated
Any mods that make Ciri romanceable?
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussion11 Essential Mods for The Witcher 3 – Guest Feature with Nexus Mods(50 posts)(50 posts)
(50 posts)